Michael Arace | Loss to Bruins a missed opportunity for Blue Jackets

Michael Arace The Columbus Dispatch @MichaelArace1

Friday

Apr 26, 2019 at 5:00 AM

BOSTON — The Blue Jackets opened the playoffs April 10. Fifteen days later, America’s Team finally lost a game. It happened Thursday night at TD Garden, where the Boston Bruins emerged with a 3-2 overtime victory.

Afterward, the Bruins spoke of resilience and toughness and secondary scoring. They hailed Charlie Coyle, their third-line center who got to Boston at the trade deadline. Coyle tied the score with 4:35 remaining in regulation. And he administered sudden death at 5:15 of OT.

As for the Jackets, they said all of the things one has to say about moving on from a Game 1 loss in a best-of-seven series. They talked about how they shook off their rust and got their legs under them and had a chance to win. But they knew they missed an opportunity. Their body language said as much.

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“We got a couple of big goals in the third period there. Go up 2-1,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “We’re in the driver’s seat. Just a blown coverage there by me with 5 minutes left. … I thought (Coyle) was just driving back door, but I’ve got to be aware there. Just a blown coverage by me.”

The Jackets seemed to have the situation in hand as Coyle’s line rushed in to score the tying goal. The pass by Marcus Johansson — another Bruins deadline acquisition — was a lovely one through the slot. With Coyle coming at him, Jones got a hair too deep and couldn’t poke check the pass out of harm’s way. Coyle’s one-timer was wicked. It had to be given the way Sergei Bobrovsky played on this night.

“He (Johansson) makes a good pass to him but, you know we’re in the driver’s seat there and I make those defensive plays,” Jones said. “It’s unfortunate that it happened but we’ve got to move on.”

Jones was otherwise a monster. He was probably being too hard on himself in taking the blame for Coyle’s third-period goal. But he manned up and prepared to move on. Remember, this is the guy who flubbed away a couple of blue-line turnovers in the first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and atoned with big goals almost immediately.

The overtime goal might have caused some Jackets fans to flash back to Game 3 of last year’s first-round series against the Washington Capitals. Second overtime. Bad line change. Lars Eller gets free down the right wing to score the winner. Eller was Zach Werenski’s responsibility.

In overtime Thursday, Coyle snuck behind Werenski to tip the winner past Bobrovsky. Once again, Johansson had the assist. Bing-bang-boom, it happened so fast. The Garden crowd of 17,565 erupted as the Big, Bad Bruins restored order by defeating a minor-league team from the suburbs.

Werenski played hurt. He was hit in the left hand by a David Krejci slap shot early in the third period, winced as the hand was iced on the bench — and didn’t miss a shift. Is he injured? It’s a playoff thing. We won’t know anything until the Jackets are done, whenever that is.

Just as there was blame to share on Eller’s goal in Nationwide Arena last year, Coyle’s winner isn’t all on Werenski. Look at it this way: By all rights, the Jackets should have been blown out of the Garden by the end of the first period.

In the lead-up, the issue for the Jackets was they were too good in the first round and the Bruins were just good enough. The Jackets swept the mighty Lightning and had nine days off; the Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 on Tuesday night and were in a rhythm of playing every other day.

It showed.

The goal horn would’ve gotten a sore throat if not for Bobrovsky, who stopped 13 of the first 14 shots he faced in the first period. It felt like 100. It took a perfect shot to beat him, a wrist shot inside the far post by fourth-liner Noel Acciari. Ugh.

Jackets coach John Tortorella: “I just think, especially in the first, we weren’t sharp-thinking at all. It was just too quick for us. But as we got the game going and played a number of good minutes as far as our checking and being above the puck and just being smart on how we play …

“We’re not going to have a tough time believing how to play. It’s a matter of executing when the game starts.”

The second period was scoreless. The Jackets hung around, got a rhythm, gained possession time and checked with more alacrity. What continued to nag them was penalty problems — they had to kill two minors in the first period, two in the second and one early in the third — and, OK, a couple of the calls were Charmin-soft, but you’ll have that.

Still, the Jackets were right there. A game that was simply too fast for them in the first period was anybody’s game as the minutes ticked away in the third period. And then, in a span of 13 seconds, the game hinged.

Jones cranked up a slap shot from the right point and the puck was twice deflected, the second time by ex-Bruin Riley Nash. Finally, something snuck past Tuukka Rask.

Next shift, Artemi Panarin — who’d spent much of the game turning the puck over to any black jersey in the vicinity — cranked up a slap shot from the left point. The shot deflected off the back of Pierre-Luc Dubois’ knees and found Rask’s five hole.

And there it was, two bolts of lightning in 13 seconds, or about the amount of time it takes to swallow a mouthful of sarsaparilla and shoot it out your nose.

There were still nearly 12 minutes remaining in regulation. If you’ve been watching these playoffs, you know a lot can happen in 12 minutes. This time, Coyle happened.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. “It’s going to be a long series. That’s a good team over there. It’s unfortunate we didn’t protect the lead but it’s going to be a long series. We got a little bit of a lesson there in how you’ve got to stick with it. The patience of the game. They obviously had it and tied it up, and anything can happen in overtime.”

It’s on now. Game 1 was a one-goal affair decided in OT. The Jackets might have let it get away from them, but they emerged with a vivid understanding of their power to menace. Two well-matched teams are already pounding one another and we’ll see where attrition takes it.

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1

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